Climate and Russia - Does the world need nuclear power?
Økende temperaturer på kloden må begrenses til godt under en to-graders økning. Det blir derfor svært viktig å gjøre energiproduksjonen karbonnøytral så hurtig som mulig. Er atomkraft det som skal til for å oppnå dette målet? I denne dokumentaren fra DW, snakker Forsker 1 på NUPI, Kacper Szulecki, om atomkraft.
Norway’s Climate Policy: Don’t Think of the Elephant!
All Norwegian governments in the twenty-first century, left and right, have made climate action an important element of their diplomacy and domestic policy, while recently some political parties have even made climate neutrality and decarbonisation the core of their electoral campaign messages. Norway has played the role of an advocate for international climate action, for instance of rainforest protection. Moreover, government incentives such as tax levies have been instrumental in the spectacular expansion of electric vehicles. However, despite the self-promoted image of a climate policy champion abroad, Norway’s efforts to cut domestic greenhouse gas emissions have been modest since signing the Kyoto Protocol in December 1997. Norway is exporting oil and gas that cause massive emissions, but the significance of the fossil fuel sector for the country makes it difficult to find alternatives and seriously consider rapid phase out. That said, a debate on the future of the oil and gas sector is ongoing. Whilst Norway’s point of departure in an imminent transition is rather favourable, the lack of progress is due to insufficient political leadership and vision. Norwegian decision makers need to be bold in their choice of whether the transition’s main goal should be managing decline in the oil and gas sector or managing climate-related economic risks. Meanwhile, in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the EU’s decision for a drastic reduction in dependence on Russian fossil fuels, the lifetime of Norway’s oil and gas production could well be extended by a decade or more. It is not unreasonable to expect that the last molecule of fossil methane burned in Europe before it switches to hydrogen and biogas—is going to come from Norway.
Handbook on European Union Climate Change Policy and Politics
Through detailed and wide-ranging analysis, the Handbook on European Union Climate Change Policy and Politics provides a critical assessment of current and emerging challenges facing the EU in committing to and delivering increasingly ambitious climate policy objectives. Highlighting the importance of topics such as finance and investment, litigation, ‘hard to abate’ sectors and negative emissions, it offers an up-to-date exploration of the complexities of climate politics and policy making.
Semi-peripheries in the world-system? The Visegrad group countries in the geopolitical order of energy and raw materials after the war in Ukraine
What are the geopolitical risk implications related to the war in Ukraine for the raw material and energy policies of countries highly dependent on Russia? This paper looks at the Visegrad Group (V4) states – Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia – as some of the most impacted countries and assesses their position in the emerging new geopolitical and energy order. V4 countries display a semi-peripheral position in the world-system, as defined by Immanuel Wallerstein. On the geopolitical level, they were balancing between dependence on Russia in energy and raw materials (a result of Cold War legacies) and economic integration with Western countries. However, after the Cold War, dependence on raw materials from the East went hand in hand with dependence on technology and investment from the West, as the V4 region saw the emergence of ‘dependent capitalism.’ The war in Ukraine may reshuffle these dependencies by changing the meaning of the ‘centre,’ for which such actors as the United States, Western Europe or China will strive after Russia's importance has weakened in the V4 countries. It may also create an opportunity to redefine the V4's semi-peripheral status. Drawing on an analysis of recent documents and governmental strategies that emerged in the aftermath of Russia's invasion in 2022, we offer a structured comparative analysis of the way V4 states responded to the crisis along four dimensions (positioning in the international political economy of energy and technology, role of the state, visions of energy futures, geopolitical and geoeconomic course). In the conclusions, we outline the main changes in the import of raw materials, fuels and technologies in individual V4 countries and consider the possible position of the region in the future energy geopolitical order.
Skisserer løsninger for Sikkerhetsrådet
How does climate change affect peace and security?
This comic is based on findings from our series of Climate, Peace, and Security Fact Sheets, which aim to present reliable, relevant, timely and actionable information and analysis on climate-related peace and security risks in selected countries and regions on the United Nations Security Council Agenda. The Climate, Peace, and Security Fact Sheets are a joint product by the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), with funding from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The information in this comic does not necessarily reflect the views of the donor.
Norway’s work on climate, peace, and security in the UN Security Council
Klimasikkerhet var en av Norges prioriteter under sin periode som valgt medlem av FNs sikkerhetsråd (2021-2022). Hva oppnådde Norge? Hans Olav Ibr...
Energy justice and energy democracy: Separated twins, rival concepts or just buzzwords?
Many new concepts have emerged to better capture socio-technical change in energy systems from a normative perspective. Two of the most visible, popularized, and politically charged are Energy Justice and Energy Democracy, but it is the tension between them that has drawn recent controversy. Instead of arguing for the superiority of one over the other, this paper's aim is to demonstrate their differential contribution and areas of productive overlap using both quantitative and qualitative measures. It presents the results of the systematic review of 495 articles on Energy Democracy and Energy Justice in the Web of Science database, with attention to the geographical focus, scale, technology, and social groups dominant in both literatures. We find that both the concepts and literatures employing them are very closely related, almost like twins. The key difference is the failure of the Energy Democracy literature to engage with questions of energy poverty and distributional (in)justice. For Energy Justice, we find that despite lip service paid to, for example, the Global South, normative research in energy transitions sphere remains highly Western-centric. We highlight, too, that both terms are most often used as buzzwords and that this undermines knowledge building and the radical potential for change which is inherent in the two concepts and their applications.
Det å stå utenfor EU gjør ikke Norges klimapolitikk mer ambisiøs
Artikkelen diskuterer Norges klimapolitikk i lys av landets utenforskap. Til tross for påstander om at Norge, utenfor EU, kan ha større autonomi i utformingen av klimapolitikken, viser studien at dette ikke nødvendigvis fører til mer ambisiøse klimamål. Siden 2009 har Norge valgt å innordne seg etter EU, samarbeide på klimaområdet og oppdatere sine mål i tråd med de europeiske. Gjennom en sammenligning med Sverige, kommer artikkelen frem til at EU-medlemskapet ikke har begrenset Sveriges evne til å forfølge en ambisiøs klimapolitikk nasjonalt og internasjonalt. Artikkelen avdekker også utfordringene Norge står overfor som følge av sitt utenforskap, spesielt innenfor energisektoren, hvor avhengigheten av vannkraft og olje- og gassindustrien vanskeliggjør klimapolitiske tiltak. På tross av Norges internasjonale initiativer innen klimafinansiering og skogbevaring, argumenterer artikkelen for at EU-medlemskap ikke nødvendigvis ville begrense Norges ambisjoner som global klimaleder. Til slutt peker studien på utfordringene ved å stå utenfor EU og understreker behovet for en grundig vurdering av de potensielle fordelene og begrensningene ved utenforskapet.